Liberty
Steel: Hubris Killed Wachovia
The former CEO did not come right out and say that, but if you read between the lines of Robert Steel’s comments to the feds investigating the 2008 financial meltdown,…
Ken Thompson
American programmer and computer scientist, co-creator of the Unix operating system
Liberty
The Harrises, Ken Thompson, and Danny Fontana
Wow. The Harris-Wachovia throwdown has flown off in interesting directions, huh? Cannot believe that the Harrises won treble damages on Wachovia’s supposed refusal to move their $3.3m. portfolio to the…
Liberty
Forget The Group. Follow The Money
I didn’t share oyabun Hood’s enthusiasm for the lengthy UPoR profile of The Group last weekend for a couple reasons. One, too many denials over the years — some to…
Liberty
Edwards Mistress, Lovechild Coming to Eastover?
Oh, man. It all started with Ken Thompson losing his mind and buying Golden West, didn’t it? Eastover has become a soap opera. The Charlotte Business Journal is reporting that…
Liberty
Wells Writing Down Golden West Loans
A tiny sliver of reality. Bloomberg reports that Wells Fargo is dealing with the $120b. option ARM hangover Wells got when the bank took over Wachovia’s attempts to handle the…
Liberty
MNI: Another $10m. Goes Poof
Recall that last August the 49.5% stake McClatchy held in The Seattle Times was revalued by MNI at $10m., down from $102m. at the end of 2006. That number is…
Liberty
Three Must-Reads to Understand the Financial Crisis
No foolin’ — you simply will not be able to understand what is going on nationally or locally without reference to the information and ideas advanced in these three very…
Liberty
Wachovia Officially Goes Poof
Now for that $72b. in bad assets Wells Fargo must write down from bad Wachovia loans. I’ve got a quick and easy answer for all those still fretting about Charlotte’s…
Liberty
The Wachovia Epitaph: We Didn't Care
I forced myself to read of all of the Uptown paper of record’s account of Wachovia’s purchase of Golden West even though I was fairly certain that option ARMs would…
Liberty
Feds Probe Wachovia Over Golden West
This story by Bloomberg is huge. With both the SEC and the US Attorney in San Francisco asking who knew what and when, this is not bean-bag. It is especially…
Liberty
The Wachovia Poison
Still no clue how this ends, but let’s be very clear about this: Ken Thompson and gang were utterly indifferent to the extent of the problem they bought with Golden…
Liberty
More Fun with Bankers, Brokers
More stellar PR for BofA, Wachovia, and every other outfit which sold financial products without first figuring out what they were selling. Via Bloomberg: Franklin Biddar wants his money, and…